Wisconsin Sports

Borland, Abbrederis lead Badgers’ All-Big Ten picks

Led by a consensus first-team selection on both sides of the ball, Wisconsin placed 14 players on the 2013 All-Big Ten teams announced Monday by the league.

The Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year, senior LB Chris Borland headlines UW’s six all-conference selections on defense as a consensus first-team pick of both the league’s coaches and a panel of media voters.

On offense, senior WR Jared Abbrederis was a consensus first-team selection among eight players named All-Big Ten on that side of the ball.

Senior OL Ryan Groy was a first-team selection of the coaches and a second-team pick of the media.

Borland, finished the regular season in a tie for fifth in the Big Ten, averaging 9.27 tackles per game. His 102 total stops were the fifth-most of any Big Ten player despite the fact that he missed an entire game -- and the majority of another -- due to injury.

Borland was one of just two unanimous first-team selections by the coaches, along with Michigan State’s Darqueze Dennard at defensive back.

With double-digit tackles in each of his last six full games, Borland averaged 11.8 stops and 1.0 TFLs per contest in that span. He finished the regular season with seven games in which he recorded at least 10 tackles.

For his career, Borland ranks sixth all-time at Wisconsin -- and second among active FBS players – with 410 total tackles. His 50.0 career tackles for loss rank 10th among active players and fourth in UW history.

Abbrederis wrapped up the regular season ranked fifth in the Big Ten in receiving at 87.6 yards per game, with his 73 receptions ranked third and his 1,051 receiving yards fourth in the league.

The former walk-on pulled in seven touchdown receptions on the season, giving him 23 for his career. That ranks in a tie for second all-time at UW. He also ranks second all-time in receiving yards (3,110) and receptions (197).

With one game remaining in his career, Abbrederis’ 3,110 career receiving yards rank him ninth in Big Ten history and eighth among all active FBS players.

Abbrederis became just the third player in school history to amass 1,000 receiving yards in a season and is the first at UW to record at least 800 yards in three different seasons.

In addition to UW’s first-team picks, both pieces of the Badgers’ dynamic duo at running back, senior James White and sophomore Melvin Gordon, were consensus second-team selections.

Junior OL Rob Havenstein was a second-team pick by the media and earned honorable mention from the coaches.